


Checking the Water Level First

by Doranwen



Category: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-18 03:35:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18112463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doranwen/pseuds/Doranwen
Summary: A piece of advice from Martha results in a very different set of events in the EPRAD warehouse.





	Checking the Water Level First

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ultra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/gifts).



_Smallville, Kansas_

"You had to move again?" Clark's mother looked at him, a little disappointed.

Clark sighed, setting down the forkful of apple pie that had been in his hand. "Someone saw me go into a burning building to rescue someone, and since I didn't get any smoke inhalation or burns…"

"I'm sorry, Clark," said Martha.

"If you're not careful, they'll put you in a laboratory and dissect you like a frog," Jonathan warned.

Clark's next sigh was even more pronounced. "I know, Dad."

"You need to figure out ways to do things that don't make your talents so obvious," Martha said. "Think before you rush in. Maybe you could've gone in through an entrance no one else could see, or found a way to blow out the flames from a hidden vantage point."

"Your mother has a point; you can certainly do things fast enough that no one should be able to see you."

"I'll try, Mom," Clark said. He lifted the apple pie to his mouth. "Mmm, I swear your pie gets better every year."

"When she makes it," Jonathan said.

"Jonathan!" Martha exclaimed in mock indignation.

"You'll have to come home more often so I actually get to eat it," Jonathan told Clark.

Clark grinned. "I'll try."

* * *

_EPRAD warehouse, several months later_

Clark concentrated on the door, watching it fade away to see Dr. Baines holding a gun to Lois's head. His first instinct was to rush in and—do what? asked the little voice in the corner of his mind that he'd started to listen to. His mother's advice had become more prominent in influencing his actions over the past few months. It had helped him avoid some of the scenarios that usually prompted him to move on, but eventually an accident had occurred that raised too many suspicions. For his next location, he had finally dared to move to Metropolis, hoping he'd find a way to stay there for good. But bursting in without a plan was definitely not going to help.

His anxiety calmed down when he realized they were tying Lois up. It didn't make the gun any less dangerous, but at least she probably wasn't a few seconds away from certain death. That gave him enough time to enact a proper plan—of which step one was to call the police. There was a phone on the wall near where he had entered, and he made a quick 911 call. The dispatcher wasn't too happy that he was leaving the phone and going back to "get a closer look at the situation", but he couldn't exactly tell them he was going to disable the criminals.

He scanned the surrounding area for a few seconds, then made his move. He twisted the door handle till he could hear a satisfying _crunch_. Then he flung the door open, speeding back down the corridor out of sight. He watched one of Baines' henchmen make their way to the door, looking around for the person who opened it. Another burst of superspeed sent Clark to the man's side and he gave the temples a good rap with his fist, quickly dragging the man out of sight. _One down, one to go,_ he thought. The man lying on the floor in the corridor would probably not wake up for a few minutes, but there was still the gun in Baines' hand to deal with. And how to avoid Lois getting suspicious?

He glanced at the pile of junk in the corridor and a lightbulb went off in his mind. He picked up one of the pieces in his hand. What it was for, he had no idea, but it was relatively close to the size of a baseball and looked like it would have decent aerodynamics. He sped to the edge of the doorway, took aim, and threw the item hard at Baines' hand, running in as soon as it was airborne. She barely had a moment to recognize his presence before it impacted, sending her gun falling to the cement floor with a clatter. The simultaneous cry of pain told Clark that he'd probably broken a bone or two in her hand, but that couldn't be helped; it wasn't a permanent injury, and she _had_ been aiming a gun at Lois.

Baines attempted to reach down to pick up the gun with her left hand before Clark got there, but he put on a tiny bit more speed, knocking her over before her hand could make contact with the gun.

"Clark!" Lois exclaimed.

He quickly leapt up, kicking the gun away from Baines and kneeling behind Lois. "Here, let me get the knots undone." He kept an eye on Baines, but it seemed she'd hit the concrete hard enough not to be too much of a threat. Other than a moan and slight twitch of her feet, there was no movement.

"How did you find us?" Lois asked, rubbing at her wrists.

Clark scooped up the length of rope. "Instinct," he called back, grinning at her expression. "Keep an eye on Baines, will you? I've got to tie up the guy in the hallway." He soon had the henchman lying next to Baines. "I'm going to retie the rope so they're both tied up with it," he told her. With hands tied together behind their backs, they would be easy to watch.

"Jimmy?" Lois called, checking on the younger man. "He's still out, but he's breathing OK."

"He'll probably be fine, then; he just needs to get checked out for a concussion once we're out of here." Clark stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. "You want to go greet the police or shall I?"

"You called them before coming in here?" Lois raised her eyebrows. "Most men have this testosterone surplus that says 'I can do it myself'."

Clark smiled. "I told you, I'm not a typical male." Lois was still rubbing her wrists, and he frowned. "Are your wrists OK?"

Lois glanced down at them, almost startled. "Oh, yeah, the rope just dug into my skin a little. I'll be fine."

"Good," Clark said. "So the real shell is here, huh?" He walked around the racks of equipment to get a better look.

"Jimmy got a bunch of photos of it, but I don't see his camera…" Lois called back.

Clark stopped and scanned the floor with his x-ray vision. There it was, lying next to the shell. He scooped it up and shoved it in his pocket to give back to Jimmy later. "Found it; he must have dropped it when the guy grabbed him." He returned to Lois. "So you were right; Baines was involved." He frowned.

"What?"

Clark looked up to see Lois eyeing him curiously. "Oh, just a thought."

"Well?" Lois waited expectantly.

Clark opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, when Baines suddenly groaned and attempted to get up. "I'll tell you later."

Lois stepped forward and shoved Baines down with one foot. "I wouldn't try that if I were you. The police are on their way." The other woman slumped back to the floor.

Only a minute later, Clark's hearing picked up the sounds of the cops outside the building. "I'm going to go make sure the cops know where to find us; I left the phone connected on the 911 call."

Lois nodded. "If they try anything, they may find one of those bullets in them," she said, tilting her head at the gun on the floor a good distance away from the tied-up prisoners.

It took what seemed like hours to finish taking their statements, explain the situation with the phony shell, and make sure Jimmy was taken care of. Clark was grateful that he didn't actually need sleep to function, and felt for Lois when he saw her yawn for the third time in five minutes. "Back to the Planet, or home?" he asked.

Lois looked at him as if he were an idiot. "We've got a story to write."

We, huh? Clark liked the sound of that. "Let's go, then."

* * *

They'd just put the finishing touches on the story and sent it off for Perry to look at when Lois turned to Clark. "OK, what was it you were thinking earlier?"

Clark cast his mind back to recall the conversation; he should've known Lois wouldn't forget. "Well, obviously Baines was in charge of making sure the space shuttle would fail. But why? Who would benefit from that?"

Lois's expression turned thoughtful. "There are anti-space groups, of course, but last I knew none of them had the kind of funding to do what Baines was doing. You can't create a phony shell and pay off any number of workers without some serious money."

"And I can't see her getting anything out of it herself—her own job is to ensure the success of the program. Too many failures and her job would be on the line," Clark pointed out.

Lois shrugged. "Sabotage tends to be for three reasons: revenge, philosophical objection, or financial benefit, usually from a competitor. The space program is too general of a target for revenge, so if philosophical objection isn't the source, it's probably competition. But there isn't really a competitor."

"Except Space Station Luthor," Clark said softly.

Their eyes met for a moment. "Maybe there's someone at LexCorp who wanted Space Station Prometheus to fail?" Lois speculated.

A tiny suspicion began to form in Clark's mind. "Maybe Luthor himself," he said.

He wasn't surprised at Lois's vehement denial. "No way, Luthor's a humanitarian and philanthropist. It's got to be one of his underlings."

Given the amount Lois had protested, Clark decided to hold that thought for later. Maybe he'd even do a bit of digging on his own. "Sounds like an investigation." He grinned at Lois, and was delighted to see her start to grin a little back.

She stood up from the desk and stretched her limbs before grabbing her purse and coat. "We'd better get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be busy if we're going to get anywhere on this. The last thing I need is a partner who's half asleep."

Partner… now Clark liked the sound of _that_ even better. "I'll walk you down to your vehicle, then."

They had just stepped into the parking garage when Lois groaned. "I forgot about Jimmy! I should go find out how he's doing."

"Don't worry about it," Clark told her. "I'll go stop by the hospital, see if they've released him yet."

"It's out of your way," Lois started to protest, but the word "way" got swallowed in a large yawn.

Clark shook his head. "You're about to fall over; you'd better get home before you end up falling asleep at the wheel. I can get a cab over there just fine." He waited as she unlocked her car door and started to climb in. "See you tomorrow," he said before turning to leave.

"See you," she said.

The sound of her car door closing echoed around the parking garage, followed soon after by the rumble of the engine starting. As the car noise faded away, the sound of whistling could be heard, as Clark sauntered towards the parking garage entrance. He was Lois Lane's partner now—and he had managed to save her life without outing himself. Metropolis was starting to feel like home; he could hardly wait to see what the next day would bring.

**Author's Note:**

> There isn't a ton of snark or flirting in this one, I'm afraid - because Lois is too busy having to re-adjust her opinion of Clark. :) I hope this still suits you!


End file.
